TECOLUCA, El Salvador – Sen. Chris Van Hollen was stopped by armed guards Thursday at a military checkpoint and turned away less than two miles from the notorious prison where a Maryland father who was wrongly deported from the U.S. is being held.
It was the second day in a row the Maryland Democrat has been refused entry into the prison, even though two GOP House members were given a tour of the facility just two days earlier.
USA TODAY was following the senator’s motorcade when it was stopped. The checkpoint he was stopped at appeared to be set up specifically to keep him from the prison.
Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador in hopes of touring the prison and meeting with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was detained by U.S. immigration officials in March and deported to El Salvador despite a prior court order that forbade him from being returned to the Central American country.
On Wednesday, Van Hollen met with Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa but made little progress in his efforts to bring Abrego Garcia home to Maryland. Ulloa told the senator he couldn’t arrange access to visit Abrego Garcia in prison, nor could he set up a phone call with the prisoner.
Abrego Garcia, 29, a sheet metal worker and father of three, was detained in March by U.S. immigration officials near his home in Beltsville, Maryland, and deported to El Salvador three days later, even though an immigration judge had ordered that he could not be returned to the Central American country.
U.S. officials contend Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 criminal gang but have provided no evidence to the courts to support the allegation. Government attorneys acknowledged in court documents that he was deported by mistake but say they have no authority to free him because he is imprisoned in a foreign country.
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said during a visit to the White House on Monday that he would not release Abrego Garcia and called the suggestion “preposterous.”
Abrego Garcia’s family has sued the U.S. government demanding his return. The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration on April 11 to begin the process of bringing him back to the U.S.
Abrego Garcia is being held in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT. The prison has been criticized for its harsh and dangerous conditions, as well as its rough treatment of prisoners.
While Salvadoran officials have refused to allow Van Hollen into the prison, two Republican House members – Reps. Riley Moore of West Virginia and Jason Smith of Missouri – were given a tour of the facility and posted photos on social media on Tuesday.
